While choice of building material throughout history has often been dependent upon the local geography and ecosystem, choices the patron (person paying for the structure to be built) and architect make about the "stuff" used to construct a building influence people's reaction to it.

Comic by Randall Munroe

Materials in History and Architecture

Use of materials for shelter is humankind's way of responding to one of the challenges of the struggle for survival faced by all animals. In many ways, our effective use of materials is what has allowed us to build civilizations expressed through our homes, settlements, villages, and cities. The importance of materials we use and ways we shape and combine them is apparent from the names archaeologists and anthropologists use to classify stages of civilization: the Stone Age, Bronze Age, Iron Age. The 21st century was hailed as the Silicon Age, after the technology of the computer chip and the information revolution, but this idea competes with many new materials which may revolutionize our way of life. The materials themselves are often overlooked in everyday life despite being all around us. Designers and architects use different materials based on engineering considerations, but also remain aware of the sensory responses different materials create in the minds of the people who will live and work in the structures they create.